The law firm said in a statement posted on its website: “Simons Muirhead and Burton is representing Robert Murat in respect of a number of libel actions against Sky, the Daily Express, the Sunday Express, the Daily Star, the Daily Mail, the Evening Standard, the Metro, the Daily Mirror, the Sunday Mirror, the News of the World, the Sun and the Scotsman.

“At this time neither the firm nor its client will be making any comment.”

The move comes just weeks after the parents of missing child Madeleine McCann sued Express Newspapers for £550,000 after claiming around 100 stories in the Express and Star titles were libellous for suggesting they were involved in their daughter’s disappearance or were party to a cover-up.

Murat, 34, lives just yards from the holiday apartment in the Portuguese seaside resort of Praia da Luz where Madeleine vanished on May 3 last year.

Detectives took him in for questioning 11 days after she went missing and made him the first “arguido”, or formal suspect, in the case.

He has always strenuously protested his innocence but is still waiting to be officially cleared of involvement in the young girl’s disappearance.